Reporting by Ammar Johmani
The Free Aleppo University granted final year students from Syrian universities, who were prevented from undergoing their final exams due to the circumstances in Syria, the chance to complete their subjects. The University would then award successful students’ university degrees ratified by Aleppo University.
Two days ago, the interim government began the round of exams for last year students in various fields of study for them to obtain degrees. Despite the positive nature of the initiative, the exams were started with great confusion as the University did not provide the Interim Government with the exact number of students expected to undertake the different exams according to a source in the government.
The source added that without a list of the students expected to undergo the exams, the examination center in the Interim Government was forced to delay some students from entering the examination halls while they communicated with the University administration in Aleppo to verify that these students could enter.
-Ignoring Requests for Information-
Ammar Johmani had set up a meeting with the Minister of Higher Education in the Interim Government for him to answer questions about the exams, clarify the processes, and explain the obstacles students are facing. However, the Minister did not make the appointment.
Ammar Johmani appreciates the circumstances of his job, and the reporters waited for over an hour in the media directorate in the Interim Government for the Minister to contact them, but he did not contact the team to apologize or reschedule.
One year ago, the interim government announced that students in the last years of their studies would be able to undertake exams in the subjects they were unable to complete due to the war. Based on their exam results, they would be awarded degrees ratified by Aleppo University. However, the interim government did not allow students from several fields of study to undertake the exams without clear reasons.
The Interim Government media spokesperson explained to Ammar Johmani that this round of exams includes last year students from the different fields of study taught at Aleppo University. Syrian students studying fields that are not taught in Aleppo University, students in the Institute for Higher Education and students in private universities in Syria were excluded from this initiative.
An official in the Exams Department of the Free Aleppo University explained to the excluded students that they would only be allowed to undergo the exams after the examination department checked the curricula that they have studied. The department must determine if the subjects these students have studied have equivalents in Aleppo University to determine which subjects these students need to be tested on.
Students who were asked to wait where greatly surprised when, one year on, they were not allowed to undertake the exams. One commented, “Wasn’t a year, 365 days, sufficient to equivalate all our subjects, how long do we have to wait until the equivalating happens and we have the opportunity to complete our degrees?”
Salem al-Ahmad, an engineering student at a private university in Syria, had one subject left to graduate. The professor, who received his request to undergo the exam for this subject a year ago, told him that the Free Aleppo University teaches his degree and he will be able to undergo the exam and obtain a degree. He was later surprised when he was prevented from undertaking the exam.
Many other students had similar experiences to al-Ahmad’s, but the Minister of Education was unavailable or unwilling to offer Zaman al-Wasl clarifications and explanations about these issues.
-Value of the Degrees-
One student who undertook the exams for the remainder of his subjects ridiculed the value of the degree he will receive at graduation. The student noted that the degree is not recognized outside of the liberated regions of Syria, but then added that “Ophthalmia is better than blindness.”
It is known that international recognition of university degrees requires universities to adhere to specific conditions and criteria which the Free University of Aleppo has not adhered to until now.
